The First to Fall ⚢

𝐭𝐰𝐨 • 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧

"I can't believe how many dining halls there are," Cara says as we explore campus on our way to Mark Hall, which is supposedly one of the best dining halls on the entire campus, according to Norah.

Barington is a beautiful, traditional college with giant brick buildings and massive fountains. By the student union, there's one gorgeous fountain packed with students sitting on its grand, beige-colored brick steps. Each of the students is either reading or talking with the person next to them and life feels like a dream for those few short seconds.

"Yeah," Norah agrees with Cara, "But you get so used to going to a handful of them that you never end up seeing the others."

"Really?" Cara asks. "You've been here for a month and haven't been to all of them yet?"

Norah shrugs as I try to piece together how and why she would've been here for a month already. "I've been to a few," she says, "but it's hard to get up and walk to go get food when you have hours of homework to get done. You have no idea how much money I've spent on DoorDash."

Opal snorts at her and I glance back in her direction, realizing how closely she's walking beside Norah. Their appearances are complete opposites of each other, including their genetic features like their skin and hair, yet they seem to get along like sisters, from what I can tell. Their body language is practically synced and they smile at each other like they've been loyal partners all their lives; it's so endearing it makes me sick—in the best way possible, of course. Maybe I just miss Jas and those two are reminding me of what happened between us.

"Here we are," Norah announces with a giant grin once we approach a big, gray-bricked building plastered with giant windows. "The best dining hall that isn't miles away from Carissa."

"Carissa?" I ask, finally joining in the conversation after spending the last few minutes just listening to the environment around me.

"Carissa Hall," Cara answers with a sharp edge in her voice. "Our dorm building?"

I almost snap something sharp back at her, but eventually decide against it. I realize I should know the name of our dorm building but I didn't need to be reminded so rudely.

"That's usually the first thing people learn about their housing," Opal comments. "How did you not know?"

"Housing wasn't really my first priority when I applied here," I tell her truthfully, ridding my voice of the bitter taste it held when I responded to Cara.

We step inside Mark Hall, IDs in hand, prepared to wait a few minutes to even be able to find a seat. But as soon as we swipe our cards and look around, the lines appear to be much shorter than I ever anticipated. There is hardly anyone in here and the sound of bustling students is merely a whisper as we make our rounds to all of the food stations. Before we know it, we're stacked in line to get some pizza, quickly migrating to the salad stand soon after.